Log driving
Log driving is a means of moving
History
When the first
The log drive was one step in a larger process of lumber-making in remote places. In a location with snowy winters, the yearly process typically began in autumn when a small team of men hauled tools upstream into the timbered area, chopped out a clearing, and constructed crude buildings for a
To ensure that logs drifted freely along the river, men called "log drivers" or "river pigs" were needed to guide the logs. The drivers typically divided into two groups. The more experienced and nimble men comprised the "jam" crew or "beat" crew. They watched the spots where logs were likely to jam, and when a jam started, tried to get to it quickly and dislodge the key logs before many logs stacked up. If they didn't, the river would keep piling on more logs, forming a partial dam which could raise the water level.
Each crew was accompanied by an experienced boss often selected for his fighting skills to control the strong and reckless men of his team. The overall drive was controlled by the "walking boss" who moved from place to place to coordinate the various teams to keep logs moving past problem spots. Stalling a drive near a saloon often created a cascade of drunken personnel problems.[9]
A larger group of less experienced men brought up the rear, pushing along the straggler logs that were stuck on the banks and in trees. They spent more time wading in icy water than balancing on moving logs. They were called the "rear crew." Other men worked with them from the bank, pushing logs away with pike poles. Others worked with horses and oxen to pull in the logs that had strayed furthest out into the flats.[7]
For log drives, the ideal river would have been straight and uniform, with sharp banks and a predictable flow of water. Wild rivers were not that, so men cut away the fallen trees that would snag logs, dynamited troublesome rocks, and built up the banks in places. To control the flow of water, they built "flash dams" or "driving dams" on smaller streams, so they could release water to push the logs down when they wanted.[13]
Each timber firm had its own mark which was placed on the logs, called an "end mark". Obliterating or altering a timber mark was a crime.[14] At the mill the logs were captured by a log boom, and the logs were sorted for ownership before being sawn.[7]
Log drives were often in conflict with
Floating logs down a river worked well for the most desirable pine timber, because it floated well. But
In Sweden legal exemptions for log driving were eliminated in 1983. "The last float in southern Sweden was in the 1960s, with the floating era in the rest of the country ending completely with the last of the many log drives in the Klarälven river in 1991."[4]
Popular culture
- The contemporary logrolling contest, Birling, is a demonstration of skills originally devised by log drivers.[10]
- Inclusive description of a complex assortment as "the whole Mary Anne" derives from the colorful characters of wangan caravans which periodically transformed quiet rural communities with the excitement of a passing log drive.
- In Canada, "The Log Driver's Waltz" is a popular folk song which boasts about a log driver's dancing skills.
- The version of the Scenes of Canada". The logs depicted in this bank note may have been destined for a half dozen pulp, paper and sawmills near the Chaudière Fallsimmediately upstream from Parliament Hill, or for other mills further downstream.
- An Englishman may have observed loggers loitering in Bangor, Maine when he reported in 1801: "His habits in the forest and the [river] voyage all break up the system of persevering industry and substitute one of alternate toil and indolence, hardship and debauch; and in the alteration, indolence and debauch will inevitably be indulged in the greatest possible proportion."[16]
- In the first chapter of The Cider House Rules (1985), John Irving briefly describes a 1930s log drive.
- Harry Brandelius’ 1950s Swedish song Flottarkärlek tells the story of a young log driver.[4]
- Teuvo Pakkala’s 1899 Finnish play Tukkijoella started the so-called ‘log driver romantics’ phase, resulting in several movies and books about log drivers’ lives.[4]
- The song Breakfast in Hell by Slaid Cleaves tells the tale of the death of Sandy Grey, a driver in Ontario.[17]
- In the first four chapters of John Irving's novel Last Night in Twisted River (2009), the hard and dangerous life of log drivers in New Hampshire is described in detail.
- Canadian band Newfoundland.
Sources
- Holbrook, Stewart H. (1961). Yankee Loggers. International Paper Company.
See also
Notes
- ^ "Manistee National Forest (N.F.), Pere Marquette Wild and Scenic River (WSR), Proposed, Environmental Impact Statement". Manistee National Forest. December 31, 1976. p. 62. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ^ Holbrook 1961, pp. 42–43.
- ISBN 0-910417-05-9.
- ^ a b c d e Kari, Serafia (September 2019). "Taming the rivers: log driving in Sweden and Finland". Europeana (CC By-SA). Retrieved September 28, 2019.
- ISBN 0-910417-00-8.
- ISBN 0-910417-00-8.
- ^ ISBN 0-910417-00-8.
- ISBN 0-910417-05-9.
- ^ Holbrook 1961, pp. 53–56, 64, 66, 72.
- ^ a b Holbrook 1961, p. 119.
- ^ "Log Drives (and River Pigs)". Forest History Center. Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ Holbrook 1961, p. 65.
- ^ Vogel, John N. (1982–1983). "The Round Lake logging dam: a survivor of Wisconsin's log-driving days". Wisconsin Magazine of History. 66 (3): 176. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
- ISBN 0-910417-00-8.
- ^ Wheeler, Scott (September 2002). The History of Logging in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. The Kingdom Historical.
- ^ Holbrook 1961, p. 18.
- ^ "Baring, "Breakfast in Hell" - Maine Folklife Center - University of Maine". Maine Folklife Center. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
External links
- "Thrills Of The Spring Log Drive", February 1931, Popular Mechanics large article on a log drive in Quebec, Canada
- "The Wisconsin Logging Book 1839-1939" by Malcolm Rosholt is readable, has many old photos, and is available online.
- "Lumbermen on the Chippewa", also by Rosholt, has more of the same.